1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direction switching valve unit in which a rotating body is miniaturized to reduce a driving electric power to be consumed for rotating/driving the miniaturized rotating body as compared with a conventional device, and air forcedly discharged toward a patient's respiratory organ is guided to allow this air to flow into a case body constituting an external member of a cough assisting device so that as a cough noise contained in the air forcedly discharged toward a patient's respiratory organ collides with the case body, some of the cough noise is damped and then penetrates the case body and the remainder of the cough noise of a patient, which does not penetrate the case body, is reflected and dispersed in the case body or damped and penetrates the case body again to minimize the cough noise and to minimize reabsorption of carbon dioxide and an odor causing substance contained in a cough of patient into air supplied from an outside when the device is repeatedly utilized for inducing a patient to cough, and a means for adjusting amount of forcedly suctioned air under a preset air pressure is provided. The present invention also relates to a cough assisting device using the above direction switching valve unit.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A cough prevents harmful substances such as gas, bacteria and the like and foreign substance from entering a respiratory tract and discharges foreign substances that have entered or secretions in the respiratory tract from the respiratory tract to keep the respiratory tract clean. However, a cough function of a neuromuscular patient suffering from muscle paralysis or a patient with a restrictive lung disease is lowered so that a patient contracts pneumonia caused by a foreign substance or suffers from difficulty in breathing due to secretions blocking the respiratory tract.
As a solution to this, a cough assisting device which supplies air (positive pressure) into a respirator tract of a patient and then rapidly suctions the air (negative pressure) to induce a cough has been proposed.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional direction switching valve unit and a cough assisting device using the same invented and registered (Korean Patent No. 10-1038262) by the present inventors; FIG. 2 is an essential perspective view showing an air pressure generating unit, a direction switching valve unit and a connecting box constituting the conventional direction switching valve unit and the cough assisting device using the same; FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the direction switching valve unit constituting the conventional direction switching valve unit and the cough assisting device using the same; FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a coupling state of the air pressure generating unit, the direction switching valve unit and the connecting box constituting the conventional direction switching valve unit and the cough assisting device using the same; and FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a rotating body included in the air pressure generating unit and the direction switching valve unit constituting the conventional direction switching valve unit and the cough assisting device using the same.
In an improved conventional direction switching valve and a cough assisting device using the same, as shown in the drawings, an air pressure generating unit 10, a direction switching valve unit A and a connecting box 50 are provided in a case 60.
First, the air pressure generating unit 10 suctions air generated by a turbo fan rotated by a rotational force transmitted from a motor and flowing through an air inlet 11 and discharges the suctioned air through an air outlet 12. In the air pressure generating unit 10, by adjusting a rotational force of the motor, a pressure of the air supplied or suctioned by the turbo fan is adjusted.
The direction switching valve unit A converts an air flow direction by means of an air pressure generated in the air pressure generating unit 10 to allow air to be forcedly supplied to a patient's respiratory organ or to be forcedly discharged from a patient's respiratory organ. Also, the direction switching valve unit A discharges some of air forcedly caused to flow by the air pressure to an outside or suctions air from an outside to adjust the air pressure.
The direction switching valve unit A performing the above functions consists of a housing 20 including an inlet 21 and an outlet 22 formed on a front surface for allowing air to enter and be discharged therethrough, a first entrance 23 formed on a rear surface for allowing air to enter and be discharged therethrough, a second entrance 24 formed on bottom surface for allowing air to enter and be discharged therethrough, the inlet 21 and the outlet 22 being formed at right and left sides and aligned with each other, the first entrance 23 being formed at a central portion, the inlet 21, the outlet 22 and the first entrance 23 being formed at the same height, and the second entrance 24 being disposed on a central axis of the housing; a rotating body 30 installed axially in the housing 20 and having a horizontal passage 31 extending from the inlet 21 and the outlet 22 to the first entrance 23 of the housing 20 along a rounded outer circumferential surface, a pair of partitions 32a, 32b for dividing a certain region of the horizontal passage 31 and a vertical passage 33 formed at a central portion and extending from the second entrance 24 of the housing 20 to a space between the pair of partitions 32a, 32b; and a two-directional motor 40 provided on an upper portion of the housing 20 and connected to a shaft of the rotating body 30 to adjust a rotation angle of the rotating body 30 in the forward direction or in the reverse direction.
Here, the rotating body 30 has a structure in which a space between a pair of partitions 32a and 32b constituting the rotating body 30 is spread from a shaft at a certain angle to simultaneously cover the inlet 21 and the outlet 22. Due to the above structure, the rotating body has a horizontal passage 31 and a vertical passage 33.
Thus, if the rotating body 30 is rotated, locations of the partitions 32a and 32b are changed so that a passage between the inlet 21 and the first entrance 23 is opened, or a passage between the outlet 22 and the first entrance 23 is opened by the horizontal passage 31 and the vertical passage 33, or a passage among the inlet 21, the outlet 22 and the first entrance 23 is blocked, the second entrance 24 is opened and a passage among the inlet 21, the outlet 22 and the first entrance 23 or a passage among the inlet 21, the outlet 22 and the second entrance 24 is simultaneously opened.
The connecting box 50 has a first passage 51 communicating the air outlet 12 of the air pressure generating unit 10 with the inlet 21 of the direction switching valve unit A and a second passage 52 communicating the air inlet 11 of the air pressure generating unit 10 with the outlet 22 of the direction switching valve unit A to form an air flow passage between the air pressure generating unit 10 and the direction switching valve unit A.
The case 60 is connected to the first entrance 23 of the direction switching valve unit A through a hose H and provided with a connecting port 70 connected to a mask hose (not shown) to be in contact with a mouth of a patient. The air pressure generating unit 10, the direction switching valve unit A and the connecting box 50 are mounted in the case 60, and the case has a coupling port 61 to which the connecting port 70 is coupled and a ventilation port 62 formed at a location corresponding to the second entrance 24 of the direction switching valve unit A.
By means of the above, the air which is forcedly caused to enter or forcedly discharged through the second entrance 24 of the direction switching valve unit A is forcedly caused to enter from or forcedly discharged to an outside through the ventilation port 62.
Due to the above structure, the conventional direction switching valve unit and the cough assisting device using the same are advantageous in that an external air can be suctioned or discharged forcedly through one entrance which is the second entrance 24 of the direction switching valve unit A.
In spite of the above advantages, however, the conventional direction switching valve and the cough assisting device using the same have the following drawbacks.
Firstly, in the rotating body 30 constituting the conventional direction switching valve and the cough assisting device using the same, since inflow and discharge of the air are controlled through the horizontal passage 31 and the vertical passage 33 formed by the pair of the partitions 32a and 32b, air flow paths of the horizontal passage 31 and the vertical passage 33 are lengthened and this problem causes an increase in a volume of the rotating body 30.
Due to the above, much electric power is consumed for rotating/driving the rotating body 30.
Secondly, in the conventional direction switching valve and the cough assisting device using the same, a cough noise coming from the second entrance 24 of the direction switching valve unit A according to a forcible discharge of the air is directly transmitted to an outside through the ventilation port 62 of the case 60, causing an extreme cough noise.
Thirdly, in the conventional direction switching valve and the cough assisting device using the same, the air forcedly discharged to an outside through the ventilation port 62 of the case 60 contains carbon dioxide and an odor causing substance produced in a patient's respiratory organ, and the forcedly discharged air stays in a space adjacent to the ventilation port 62 of the case 60.
However, since a patient forcedly inhales and exhales the air at least several times, there is a danger that the air which was forcedly discharged and stays in the space adjacent to the ventilation port 62 of the case 60 is forcedly inhaled into a patient's respiratory organ, and the greater the number of uses of the cough assisting device, the more serious this danger becomes.
Fourthly, a drawback of the conventional direction switching valve and the cough assisting device using the same is that amount of air which is forcedly suctioned is not adjusted in the preset air pressure.
In other words, it is possible to classify patients who need the cough assisting device into two groups. First, one group is routine patients who have healthy lungs or are not sensitive. In this case, although the time required for forcedly suctioning air in the preset air pressure is the same as that required for forcedly discharging air, it would not be a problem to induce a patient to cough.
The other group is specific patients who have weak lungs or are sensitive. In this case, however, as compared the time required for forcedly discharging air, much more time should be consumed to forcedly suction air in the preset air pressure (that is, an amount of the air which is forcedly suctioned per unit time should be less than amount of the air which is forcedly discharged per unit time) so that when a patient forcedly inhales the air, it is possible to induce a cough without serious damage to a patient's lung.
Because of this, there is a need to adjust an amount of air to be forcedly suctioned under a pressure preset according to a physical or mental condition of a patient.